Monument Type(s):

• TOWN GATE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

One of the five gates in the Bridgnorth Town Defences (PRN 00374).

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA407 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA8223 - 2007 DBA of Bishop Percy's House, 52-53 Cartway, Bridgnorth by Christopher Phillpotts (Ref: 13/04908/FUL)

Description

One of the five gates in the Town Walls of Bridgnorth. Nothing now remains <1a>
Nearly at the top of the street called the Cartway stood Cowgate, the immediate entrance leading into the High St, long since levelled to the ground <1b>

Both the gate and the street took their names from the Kou Family. It has been assumed that Cowgate lay at the upper end of Cartway, controlling access into High Town from the riverside (<1><1a><1b>). However, analysis of post-medieval deeds suggests that it straddled the lower end of Cartway, to the west of Bishop Percy’s House. In 1634 Sir William Whitmore leased out four tenements (formerly a barn) on the south side of the upper part of Cartway with their gardens and backsides which adjoined Cowgate to the south; and also an orchard “near a place called Fosters Loade, adjoining to the place called Cowgate” (SA 5586/2/2/30 p77). This orchard was probably on the site of nos 53 to 57 Cartway, which were part of the Whitmore estate. In 1732 the town bailiffs leased out two houses called the Lower Part of Cowgate, described as at the lower end of Cartway with a north-south street frontage of 31 feet, their gardens stretching to the west (SA BB/E/1/2/212/1 and 2). The property called the Upper Part or Upper End of Cowgate abutted southward onto these gardens and northward onto the upper part of Cartway; it was also leased out by the bailiffs in 1732 (SA BB/E/1/2/210 and 211). The descriptions in these deeds suggest that the gateway of Cowgate crossed Cartway between nos 54 on the east and 33 on the west. Below this the road was generally known as Underhill Street until late in the 19th century. ->

-> In this context, the medieval core of Bishop Percy’s House (PRN 11519) might therefore be interpreted as a tower projecting from the eastern town wall to the east of the Cowgate, and the town wall may have run northward along the upper terrace edge to the west of the site, to join Cripplegate further to the north. <2>

Both suggested locations for the site of Cowgate are now recorded on the GIS, namely SO 7169 9308 (see <1>) and SO 7179 9309 (see <2>). <3>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 00378 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01b> Watkins-Pitchford D W, 1937/ 1938, Collections for a History of Bridgnorth, Salop: a MS by William Hardwicke, p199 (Article in serial). SSA1718.

<01a> Mason J F A, 1957, The Borough of Bridgnorth 1157-1957, p10-11 (Monograph). SSA1670.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1977, Ordnance Survey Record Card SO79SW7.6 (Card index). SSA1732.

<02> Phillpotts C, 2007, Bishop Percy's House, 52-53 Cartway, Bridgnorth: archaeological desk-based assessment, pp.13-14 (Deskbased survey report). SSA29422.

<03> Carey Giles, 2014 onwards, Comments by Giles Carey, HER compiler in HER database, 16/05/2017 (SMR comment). SSA26784.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.